Flint Hills Resources proposed refinery changes are open for public review

Monday, December 22, 2014

Contact Mary Connor, 651-757-2629

St. Paul, Minn. — Flint Hills Resources has proposed two projects at its Pine Bend refinery in Rosemount — a natural-gas based, combined heat and power cogeneration facility and a clean fuels project. The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) has prepared Environmental Assessment Worksheets (EAWs) for the proposed projects, and is making the documents available for public comment through Jan. 21, 2015.

The EAWs are meant to describe the ways in which the proposed projects could affect air, water, land use and habitat, as well as potential community impacts, such as odors, noise, dust and vehicle traffic.

The Flint Hills refinery is located at the intersection of Minnesota Highway 55 and U.S. Highway 52 in Rosemount and is primarily used to process crude oil to produce a variety of products, including gasoline, diesel fuel, heating oil, jet fuel, petroleum coke, asphalt and elemental sulfur. The company has proposed:

Constructing a natural gas-based, combined heat and power cogeneration facility that will generate up to 49.9 megawatts of electricity. The power plant will reduce Flint Hills’ electricity purchases from the grid and improve the efficiency of steam production at the refinery.

Making changes that allow the refinery to produce gasoline that meets the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Tier 3 sulfur standard. Proposed changes include increasing hydrotreating (a process that removes sulfur) and installing a process to convert recovered gas containing sulfur and nitrogen into a salable aqueous liquid fertilizer.

The public is invited to review and comment on the EAWs, which are available on the MPCA’s Environmental Assessment Worksheet webpage. The MPCA will use the comments to evaluate the potential for significant environmental effects from the project, and to decide whether a more comprehensive environmental review, an Environmental Impact Statement, is needed.

Comments must be submitted in writing by 4:30 p.m. on Jan. 21, 2015, either by mail to Kim Grosenheider, MPCA, 520 Lafayette Rd. N., Saint Paul, MN 55155-4194; by email to kim.grosenheider@state.mn.us; or by fax to 651-297-8701.

Copies of the EAW are also available for review at the mailing address or by calling 651-757-2101. Questions should be directed to Kim Grosenheider at 651-757-2170.